Prompt Cast
Man's Story of Loss Goes Viral, Used in Clickbait Ads
TLDR Matt, a man who lost his wife and became a single father, shares his story through a blog that goes viral. However, he later discovers that his story and pictures are being used in clickbait advertisements, leading him to feel responsible and blame himself for the situation.
Timestamped Summary
00:00
A man named Matt shares his story of losing his wife and becoming a single father through a blog that goes viral.
03:32
Matt, a man who lost his wife and became a single father, discovers that his face and his late wife's picture are being used in clickbait advertisements that falsely portray his life and relationship.
07:43
Matt's story and pictures with his late wife are being used in clickbait articles that are showing up on various websites, and despite his desire to turn it off, he feels responsible for putting his story out there and blames himself for the situation.
12:14
Clickbait websites like Articles Valley and LifeBuzz rely on companies like Outbrain and Tabula to place links to their websites on reputable sites, and these companies make money by renting out advertising space on publishers' sites.
15:47
Chumbox companies have become an important part of the internet ecosystem, with some publishers making up to 30% of their revenue from these boxes, and while the ads may look cheap, people do click on them, making the companies thousands of dollars.
19:14
The host contacts the chum box companies and discovers that they are hesitant to talk, while also finding out about a specialized software called BuzzSumo that is used to find trending articles to copy and post on their sites, leading the host to find the first article about Matt and Liz on a website called littlethings.com.
22:32
The host discovers that the author of the article is Amy Page, a former writer from Little Things, and finds a video of Matt on the Rachel Ray show that was uploaded in 2017, one week before June Rivers wrote the article.
26:13
Taboola and Outbrain have agreed to remove the ads with Matt's picture from their networks in response to his request.
30:02
Taboola agreed to take down the ads with Matt's picture after a meeting with the CEO.
Categories:
Technology
Society & Culture
